Hundreds walk to remember a Gaithersburg student

Tom Fedor/The Gazette
“Sweet T” organizers (from left) Laura Falcione, and sister Anna, both 15 of Gaithersburg, Alex Winn, 16 of Damascus, and Abigail Vigil, 16 of Gaithersburg lead the 5k benefit walk for the Teressa French Scholarship Fund at Convenant Life Church on Sunday afternoon in Gaithersburg. The girls were good friends with Teressa, a Convenant Life student, who died in January 2014 from injuries as the result of being struck by an automobile near the church.

Hundreds of area residents and neighbors celebrated the life of a late Gaithersburg student Sunday by participating in a 5k benefit walk and raising money for a scholarship fund created in memory of the teen.

Teressa, a 16-year-old sophomore at Covenant Life School in Gaithersburg, was killed Jan. 24 after a car that had been involved in a crash veered onto the sidewalk and struck her as she was walking along Muncaster Mill Road with a friend.

Approximately 500 people attended the event, which was held on the back lawn of Covenant Life Church, 7501 Muncaster Mill Road. About $5,000 was raised from the walk.